For the second year in a row, West Texans got the opportunity to perform at Odessa’s Got Talent.
The show took place Friday night at First Odessa Church.
Sixteen acts performed with five in the youth division and 11 in the adult division.
The performers had auditioned and the finalists that competed Friday were chosen by a panel earlier in April.
The finalists ranged from a beatboxer to solo singers and bands.
“I’m really impressed with the variety of talent,” fundraising chair and board member at Permian Basin Mission Center Cristy Batte said. “We have a lot of musical instruments as well as some really strong vocalists. The talent is amazing.”
All finalists were competing for a chance to win.
Top four prizes were given to the adult division while the top three prizes were given to the youth which was decided by a panel of three judges Friday at the show.
The judges included Sarah Johnson, Shelby Landgraf and Eric Baker.
A People’s Choice award was also given out and was decided by an online vote.
In the youth category, the band Never Too Young took the top prize while Camila Rivera took second and Samuel Chastain finished third.
Rivera also won the People’s Choice Award.
In the adult division, Grace Surmion was the winner for her performance of “Never Enough” from the musical “The Greatest Showman.”
Bryon Garrison of Fort Stockton took second while last year’s champion Los Crazy Guys finished third.
The band Albert Hall and the 100 took fourth.
While Los Crazy Guys were one of the contestants back from last year, this year’s group of finalists were mostly new.
“I heard about it last year,” Chastain said. “It was the inaugural one. I decided to email (Permian Basin Mission Center Executive Director) Hector Aguilar and asked him when the next one and got a response from Cristy telling me it would be in April and I auditioned.”
Chastain, who is a sophomore at STEM Academy, performed “July in Cheyenne”.
“If anything, it was riveting at most and adrenaline pumping,” Chastain said. “It was amazing if anything.”
He’s been playing the guitar for about two years now.
“The drive that made me want to start music was my late great step dad,” Chastain said. “He passed away in 2017 due to cancer. All I know is he’s up playing with his favorites such as Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Charlie Daniels and so many other ones.”
Los Crazy Guys may not have been able to protect their title this year but they still enjoyed coming out to play at Odessa’s Got Talent.
“It’s beautiful,” Los Crazy Guys bass player Dan Fruehauf said. “Everyone here is very helpful. They’re very dedicated. I can’t say enough about the sound guys and everyone. They really look after us and make sure we’re comfortable.”
Los Crazy Guys performed “Wretched Man”, which is one of the group’s newest songs.
“The crowd was great,” Fruehauf said. “It’s real attentive and they show up.”
Other members of Los Crazy Guys include Richy Puga on drums and Isaiah Chavez on guitar.
Kyler Chavez and Ben Hulett who both form the group Capital Limits” were also playing at Odessa’s Got Talent for the first time as they performed “Use Somebody” from Kings of Leon.
“Ben and I have been playing together for a few years and this is a song that we’ve performed a lot so we thought it would be a good fit for what they’re doing tonight with Odessa’s Got Talent,” Chavez said. “We’re excited that we got the opportunity to play.”
Chavez and Hulett have been playing together since 2017.
“We play at different public venues, wine shops, coffee bars, even some outdoor places,” Chavez said. “We also do some private events as well.”
Other finalists that performed Friday night included Vincent Ramirez, Areli Smith, Kayla Dos Santos, Mikayla Heard, Molly Angela, Juan Caamano, Ashley Simpson and the Bitter Water Band.
